Aera Milito
by G.B.Heron
Summary: War is an alternate reality. No PP.
1. Chapter 1

The war came as a surprise to everyone.

Actually, that's probably wrong. The guys say the higher-ups had to of known for months.

It certainly came as a surprise to me and every other American citizen. Suddenly, that piece of paper I signed to be able to vote meant something, and football scholarship or not it was either enlist or be drafted.

I enlisted in the Air Force. Surprise. Most people who know me would've thought Navy or Marines. But I've always loved flying. Sometimes, it was the best part of The Family Vacation.

I'm not exactly the smartest person. So I went through basic training knowing I wouldn't get to be a pilot or a navigator. I'm too tall to be a fighter pilot anyway. I'm strong though, football player, duh. I was really surprised though when I was chosen to be a gunner. Makes sense if you think about it, just aiming at a moving target like passing to the wide receiver.

I was initially deployed to a base in Warsaw. We lost a lot of good guys.

I've been reassigned to La Paz. My Captain said I'm a lucky bastard since the 17th battalion has the lowest casualty rates by far. But I'm more worried about the mosquitoes. They're supposed to be the size of a grown man's hand.

I'm barely settled before I'm sent on a run with my new crew. Rick's our pilot, Joey's the navigator, Red's the bombardier, and the other gunner is Casey. We were nearing the target, some factory, when we found out this wouldn't be a milk run. The enemy fighters engaged us and the five other bombers in our squadron.

"Heads up Dash." Casey warned. The only thing I could hear over the roar of our own engines and the crackle of my headset was the deadly spatters of the machine guns including my own. I chased the tail of one fighter before switching to another and getting a lucky shot to a fuel line. The flat pings of bullets came from my right missing me by inches. I turned to return fire, when one of our fighters flew by and sent it up in flames.

"Phantom!" Came Rick's excited shout over the com.

"What! Where?" I searched the skies looking for a familiar streak of black and white.

"On your right about two o'clock." Said Joey. I looked but only saw the fighter plane that had taken care of that monkey for me. It isn't till we're safely back on the ground that it's explained that,

"We call the Captain Phantom cause he's like a ghost." Joey explained over tonight's dinner, pasta and meatballs. "Comes out of nowhere and never misses. Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Oh, no, I thought you were talking about someone else."

"Who'd you think he was?" Red asked looking up from the novel he was finishing.

"I'm from Amity Park…"

"The ghost town?" Rick questioned.

"Yeah, well there's this one ghost whose called Phantom, he's really cool, always saves the day and protects the city from the other ghosts."

"It's all a hoax." Joey stated.

"No it's…"

"Mass hysteria and tourism propaganda."

"Phantom!" The call was taken up by the crowd spreading from door. "Nice to see you Captain!" "Good shooting today!" As the crowd slowly parted I got my first look at this phantom, a glimpse of dark hair between two people. Then…

"Dash?"

**Inspired by Catch 22. I'm surprised no one else has sent Danny to war. Some fics have a ghost war, but we all like putting Danny in hard moral positions and war, a war between humans, would have the normal difficulties plus Danny's "unfair" advantages. If any one would like to adopt this, do something similar, or throw Danny into the trenches of WW1 PM me. I probably won't continue this, but if there is enough interest I'll make it a two shot probably a reveal.**


	2. Chapter 2

Holy shit! Fenton. Wimpy, nerdy, ghost-hunter-parents, respected pilot, superior officer, "Fenton!" I stand.

He's as surprised as I am but recovers first. He claps me on the shoulder. "It's good to see a familiar face. When did you get transferred in?"

"Few days ago." I'm not sure what to do next and I guess Fenton doesn't know either cause he addresses our audience.

"Joey, Red, Casey," a pause "Rick."

"Don't worry Captain, I'll take good care of Dash, your friends, my friends and all that!" Rick gives a salute.

"Right." Fenton looks uncomfortable. "Well I hate to be rude, but I'm grabbing dinner to go. There's a lot of paperwork that needs my name on it." He turns back to me. "We should catch up sometime."

"Yeah." I agree awkwardly and he nods before turning back into the crowd.

I sat with an audible thump. Great. This was all I needed. I wanted to make a good impression. Fenturd better keep his mouth shut or I'll…

"How do you know the Captain?" I blink at Rick's question.

"We went to the same high school."

"Amity Park?" Asks Casey.

"Yes"

"You probably know some good stories about him then." Red has closed his book to give me his full attention.

"Not really."

"So our good Captain believes in ghosts too?" Joey question is… what's the word… scathing? And I find myself blurting out,

"His parents are ghost hunters." They're all staring at me. Fantastic. Joey in disbelief, Casey in curiosity, Rick in anticipation of hearing how great Fenton is probably, and Red just hoping for a good story and… actually I think I know one. "Sophomore year, my parents got this invite to a cruise. That's normal but, they went without me and not just my parents, everyone's parents were on that cruise. That's when I knew something was up. My friends and I witnessed ghosts abducting some parents and tried to find help. Fenton and his… friends were having a party. When he realized what was going on, Fenton took control of the situation, gave us equipment, showed us how to use it, devised an infiltration plan, got us onto that floating pirate ship and kicking ghost butt."

"What happened next?" Asked Casey.

"Fenton had to walk the plank. Phantom showed up and saved him. But he didn't come back with Phantom to finish the fight."

"What did the ghosts want with your parents?" Red sounds confused.

I shrug. "They had them on treadmills powering the ship."

"Are you saying the Captain ran away from a fight?" Rick's voice is hard and it makes me reconsider what I had always assumed. That Phantom rescued Fenton and Fenton decided to stay on the ground. But what if Fenton was injured, what if Phantom refused to give him a ride?

"No. Just the facts as I know them."

"Ghost devised an elaborate scheme to kidnap adults just to power a flying pirate ship? I suppose you must have plenty of other wacky ghost stories that Captain Fenton could corroborate." Joey is still skeptical.

"Corroborate?"

"Agree with." Casey clarifies.

I smirk at the challenge. "Sure do wanna hear another?"

**A big thanks to all my reviewers. You are the reason this is being continued.**


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